The Ockham Awards

The Skeptic Magazine’s Ockham Awards were founded because we wanted to draw attention to those people who work so hard to get a great message out there. The Ockhams recognise the effort and time that have gone into the community’s favourite skeptical blogs, skeptical podcasts, skeptical campaigns and outstanding contributors to the skeptical cause.

We have been very fortunate to have had a network of support from the very beginning, a network which includes QEDcon, our ceremony hosts, and Professor Richard Wiseman who MC’d from 2012-2017.

THE OCKHAM AWARDS CRITERIA

One of the most important elements of the awards are that the shortlists are selected by you – the public. The awards are always judged on a number of criteria:

1. Quality.
2. Success of outreach, both in terms of absolute numbers (how many people did they reach?) and how ‘intrepid’ that outreach was (are they preaching to the choir or getting new people interested in skepticism?)
3. Relevance to the UK ‘scene’. This doesn’t mean that the candidate has to necessarily be UK-based – last year’s winners included overseas and international short-listers – just that they should cover content that is relevant and known in the UK.